Willa Cather

Willa Cather is sometimes remembered by
biographers as cantankerous and reclusive. While acknowledged
to be accessible to close friends and family members, she was
nevertheless regarded as somewhat isolated and eccentric.

Casual acquaintances who recorded their
memories of Cather shortly after they encountered her often present
a favorable picture. For example, Josephine Frisbie of Red Cloud,
who met Cather during the Christmas holidays in 1927 at a tea
given in Cather's home, was unprepared for the "nicely dressed,
cordial hostess who greeted us." Frisbie described Cather
as about medium height with a slight tendency toward plumpness
and dark fluffy hair simply dressed. She noted Cather's clothing--two-piece
dress, black pumps with one strap, and sand-colored hose but
observed, "When you talk to her you notice her vigor and
herself, not her clothes." Frisbie also emphasized the extreme
alertness with which Cather spoke: "She talks as she writes,
clearly and deliberately."

The Superior Express of January 12, 1928,
reported a visit Cather had recently paid to the new Brodstone
Hospital in Superior, Nebraska. It illustrates the spontaneous
admiring response Cather often received from contemporaries:
"It is not difficult to understand, after meeting her, why
Miss Cather is so popular and beloved by her friends and acquaintances.
Despite her literary successes her personal charm is augmented
by her democracy, and her easy gracious commonness. In her presence
one realizes that the greatest source of charm in her delightful
novels and sketches lies in her pleasant and versatile personality."